The Polish immigrant Michalena Kuzniewski made the journey from Hamburg, Germany to the United States with her son Adam on the German steamship "Moravia" on October 29th, 1891, arriving on November 12th. Her husband Antoni had already prepared the way to New York, departing on July 21st of 1890 via Glasgow, Scotland on the German steamship "Leith". The "Moravia" of 1884 was an irom steamer, built in 1883 by A & J.Inglis, Glasgow as the "Bengore Head II" for theUlster SS Co. of Ireland. She was a 3,739 gross ton ship, length 361.3ft x beam 40.7ft, one funnel, two masts, iron construction, single screw and a speed of 12 knots. There was accommodation for 100-1st and 1,200-3rd class passengers. Launched on 4/8/1883, she was bought the same year by Hamburg America Line and renamed "Moravia". She commenced her first voyage on 18/11/1883 from Hamburg to Havre to New York and on 1/7/1886 started her first Stettin - New York voyage.

The State of New York opened the very first examining and processing center for immigrants on an island off the southwest tip of Manhattan at Castle Garden. Immigration remained purely an affair of the state, not federal, government until 1882. On April 19, 1890 the US set up a temporary center in the Old Barge Office near the Customhouse on the southeast foot of Manhattan. And from April 19, 1890 to Dec 31, 1891 the Barge Office was used to process immigrants; so this is where Michelina and Antoni would have been processed. However, Michalina claimed to have been disembarked in Hoboken, at the Hamburg American Line docks, on Antoni's naturalization application. Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892.